The model for this portrait is to be found in the Augustus cameo of the Lothar cross from the Aachen cathedral treasury. The triumphal emblems - laurel wreath and scipio (staff with eagle) - were reserved exclusively for emperors from Augustus onwards and are known in the present combination only from the Augustus cameo in Aachen. Under Emperor Alexander Severus, the eagle sceptre was finally reintroduced as an emblem. The gem portrait bears a certain resemblance to that of the young Commodus; it represents the connection of the portrait types between Augustus and those of Severus Alexander. (AVS)
Former collection August Kestner, Rome
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